The Treasury published the 2020 Tax Control Plan at the end of last January. We have already commented in a previous post, the main lines of action of the plan, and in this post, we want to focus on control measures that affect the international arena.

The digital transformation of companies has allowed businesses to be developed more easily in different countries by the same organization, so many companies have proposed to work in other markets, but this situation represents a challenge for the control of Tax authorities.

International tax control by the 2020 Tax Control Plan

Some of the aspects contemplated in the 2020 Tax Control Plan that refer to the international aspect of companies are the following:

  • Review of related-party operations. These are operations carried out by natural or legal persons between whom there is a relationship, either because they belong to the same business group, have the same administrators or shareholders, or there is a family relationship, among other aspects. In this sense, the control of the Treasury will focus on observing compliance with documentation and information obligations.
  • New risk analysis system. In 2020, a new risk analysis system will be launched based on the information obtained on related-party transactions.
  • Susceptible operations. Some of the operations to which the Treasury will be especially attentive are:
    • Business restructurings (for example, mergers or acquisitions).
    • The valuation of transfers between companies of the same group of various assets.
    • The deduction of items could significantly erode the tax base.
    • The existence of repeated losses.

How to act to prevent problems?

The 2020 Tax Control Plan should serve international companies to prepare and review all actions with a tax implication that they carry out to comply with the law. In this sense, in addition to being important to have the help of an expert tax advisor, if we are dealing with a Spanish subsidiary of a foreign multinational, for example, the following measures can be taken.

  • Check that the concepts and amounts of the charges made by the parent company abroad correspond to the contracts that have been signed. It is important that the contracts are well documented, clear and transparent and do not doubt.
  • Prove the reality of the charges. Along with the above, it is essential to collect all the additional documentation to the contract that proves that the charge made is real.
  • Another important aspect is that the value of these charges is based on normal market values.
  • Finally, it is essential not to forget the income of the corresponding withholdings.

In short, compliance with tax regulations requires exhaustive planning and significant internal control of the companies, which guarantees that all operations are justified and duly documented.